


The Way Home

by paperjamBipper



Category: Moana (2016)
Genre: Gen, I like the idea that mini moana is sentient as well so she gets to be sentient too, cause that's what maui and moana are. they're best friends, just some best friend bonding is all, platonic fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 14:58:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9129064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paperjamBipper/pseuds/paperjamBipper
Summary: A rewrite of the end of the movie where Maui agrees to return with Moana on her trip home to Motunui. Lots of various discussions and best friend bonding occurrs.





	

“You should come back with me to Motonui. They’re going to need a master wayfinder to help show them how to do it”

Maui smiles, pushing his necklace aside to show Moana the tattoo of her appearing over his heart, right next to the one of himself holding up the sky.

“They already have one” He says, and Moana smiles before pulling him into a hug. Maui smiles warmly as he hugs her back.

When she pulls away, he backs out of her way so she can get to her boat. He watches as she begins to push it towards the water, and all of a sudden he feels something smack against his skin.

“Ow!” he says, glaring down at Mini Maui. “What was that for? I was being serious”

Mini Maui gestures to Moana, tapping his foot.

“Yeah, I see her leaving, so what?” He asks, and Mini Maui shakes his head in frustration. He then jumps from his tattoo over to Mini Moana’s and sits down on the edge of her boat.

“Go with her? Why? She’ll be fine on her own”

Mini Maui stands up, and jumps around to his back. He sits down on the island pulled from the sea.

“Well of course it’s small, but I don’t see what that has to do with her” Maui says, and Mini Maui jumps over to the tattoo of him lassoing the sun and gestures to the crowd.

“Right, right. There’s nobody else there. I know. I still don’t see what that has to do with her, though” He says, and Mini Maui rolls his eyes in disbelief at how long it’s taking Maui to get what he’s trying to say. He jumps back onto Mini Moana’s boat, and the two of them sail back to the crowd of people on his tattoo of him lassoing the sun. They both step off, and the crowd swarms them, lifting them both in the air in celebration.

“Oh!” Maui almost yells in realization when everything clicks. “You should’ve just said that first!” He says, and the two tattoos freeze in place as Maui scans the beach for Moana. He’s relieved when he still sees her struggling to get the heavy boat into the water.

“Moana!” he shouts to her, who in turn yelps in surprise and falls forward at a sudden loss of balance. He walks over to her and helps her up.

“I’ll do it” He says, unable to keep the grin off of his face. She looks at him with mild confusion for a quick moment, but then it turns into her own big grin when realization hits her.

“Really?” She asks as she bounces her feet up and down.

He smiles in response, and then she takes a few steps back. “Then we’ve got no time to lose! They’re never going to believe I actually met you until they see you with their own eyes!” She says excitedly and then runs at the boat, both hands out, and shoves at it. The boat nudges forward, and Moana leans on it with her shoulder and walks forward, digging her feet in the ground, pushing the boat forward until it touches the water.

Maui chuckles, and walks backwards into the water. He grabs the front of the boat and drags it backwards into the water as Moana continues to push it into the water from behind. When it’s completely in the water, Maui jumps on top of it, and the boat lifts in the air and splashes down, soaking Moana from head to toe.

“Ha Ha, very funny” Moana says, wading out into the water so she can climb aboard. She pulls herself up, and Maui offers him her hand to help her all the way up. She doesn’t realize her mistake in taking his hand until she’s flying over the boat and into the water on the other side.

“You know, I could just as easily dump you back on your island as I could take you to Motonui” she says as the ocean helps her onto the boat’s deck. “They’re in the same direction”

“Even if you did bring this thing to the island, it’s not like I’d get off willingly. You’d have to drag me off yourself.” Maui sits on the edge of the boat. “And I don’t know if you’ve gotten a good look at me lately…” he pauses to flex at his reflection. “But I don’t think you’d be able to move me if you tried”

“Oh yeah?” She asks, and places her foot on his back and kicks him into the water. “Seems easy enough to me”

Maui spits water out of his mouth and laughs sarcastically as he helps himself back onto the boat. “Ha Ha” he says, and stands up. “So you can push me into the water when I’m sitting down. It’s a miracle. You’re so strong.” He says sarcastically, but then smirks at her. “I know the real reason why you’d never do it, though”

“Yeah, and what’s that?” Moana says, tying her long hair up in a bun as she prepares to get the boat moving.

“You like me too much”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m your best friend, right? That hug you gave me on the beach couldn’t have been for nothing. You don’t have the heart to dump me off on some random island and go home without me”

Moana snickers. “Why? Is it because you stole it from me and refuse to give it back?”

Maui groans as Mini Maui adds another tally on Moana’s side of the chart. “I can leave right now, you know. I can just take my hook and fly away”

“Good. I didn’t ask you to come with me”

“Uh, correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe your exact words were ‘you should come back with me to Motonui’ ”

“Whatever” she says, rolling her eyes playfully. She ties the rope into a knot, and turns the stick to steer the canoe in the direction towards Motonui. The sudden swerve in direction catches her off balance, but once she catches herself, she leans into the edge of the water and dips her hand into it. After that, she walks over to the side of the boat, removing her bun and letting the breeze blow her hair around.

Maui sits down next to her. “So, what kind of reaction should I expect when we get back to Motonui?”

“Oh, everyone’s going to be really excited, no questions asked” She says, and then raises a hand up in the air. “Unless, of course, you were talking about what they’re gonna be like when they see you, because that’s a different story entirely”

Maui opens his mouth to speak, but she cuts him off. “I’m kidding. I’m sure they’ll be excited to see you too.”

She stands up, and opens the small storage compartment door before grabbing a piece of fruit from inside. “You want something?” She asks, turning to Maui, and he smirks.

“Other than HeiHei” She says, unable to stop herself from laughing.

“Fine” he says, and shrugs his shoulders. “I’m all set”

Moana rolls her eyes before reaching down and pulling two pieces of fruit from the compartment door.

“Eat” she commands, tossing a banana at him. “You may be half-god, but you’re also half mortal. And that means you have to eat” She takes a bite of her apple as she joins his side again.

“So…” Maui says, pausing to peel at the banana and taking a bite out of it. “What’s so great about this Motonui of yours anyway?” He asks.

“Mm!” Moana exclaims with her mouth full. “It’s wonderful! Everyone is so lively, the local plants are beautiful, and there’s a wonderful view of the ocean at every angle. You’re going to love it there”

Maui responds with nothing but a thoughtful “Hm” and a smile.

Moana stands up, walks over to the boat’s sail and climbs up to good look around. Te Fiti is nothing more than a dot on the horizon. She smiles.

Glancing down, Moana notices that Maui’s childhood tattoo is slightly visible where his hair is parting in the back.

“Hey.” She calls down to him, and when he turns himself to look at her it shows completely for a brief moment. “You know, my offer is pretty up in the air”

Maui shrugs. “Uh, I don’t know about that. It seems pretty clear to me.”

“Well yeah, but…” She starts, and pauses so she can slide a little ways down the sail before jumping off completely. “I never specified how long you could stay.”

“Oh.” Maui says, a little shocked by her answer. He hadn’t considered that there’d be one. He supposes that’s his own fault for assuming otherwise. He prepares himself for any possible answer she could give him. _You can stay the night. You can stay for a week. You can stay for an hour or two._

Except, of course, her actual answer.

“You can stay as long as you want” She says, smiling.

Maui is so taken aback by this he chokes on the food he had in his mouth. “What?”

“You said it yourself. I’m your best friend, right? I can’t just dump you on some random island and leave you there. And, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t your island just a bunch of rocks and dead mountains? I don’t know about you, but that seems pretty lonely to me-”

“Hold on, hold on” Maui says, waving his hands up in the air, trying to process what she’s saying. “Are you-asking me if I want to…move there?”

“Well, do you?”

Maui pauses. What Moana says is true. All he’s known for the past thousand years has been rocks, dead plants, and the sound of the ocean waves crashing against the beach.  But Motonui. Motonui has flourishing forests. Exotic plants. Animals. _People. Motonui has other people. Real, living, breathing people._ Maui laughs to himself softly, and runs a hand through his hair. If he’s smiling, he’s doing it completely subconsciously.

Moana smiles. “I’ll take that as a yes” She says, and then goes back to adjust the boat’s speed as she realizes it’s beginning to slow down.

Maui glances down and notices Mini Maui smirking at him.

“Oh, stay out of it” Maui says, smiling as he wiping away at a tear forming in his eye. Mini Maui hugs him, and Maui rolls his eyes as he pats at his chest. “You too, buddy”

He walks to the front end of the boat and sits down, hanging his feet in the water.  He leans back, letting the wind whip his hair around. The sun is starting to set, causing its reflection on the water to glimmer. He glances back at Moana, who is so focused on what she’s doing her tongue is sticking out of her mouth. He closes his eyes peacefully to take everything in.

They sail in silence for a while, Moana determined on getting home and Maui lost in his thoughts. This goes on until there are stars twinkling in the sky. He had moved to the side of the boat so he couldn’t obstruct her view of the stars, but nothing ever really snaps him out of his thoughts until a violent rock of the boat nearly pushes him overboard.

“Moana?” He says, whipping his head round to see if something happened to her.

...Only to find her fast asleep at the controls.

Maui stands up and walks over to her and prods her in the shoulder.

“Moana”

No response. He pokes her again, harder, and she jumps up.

“Huh? Motunui?” She asks sleepily, and Maui shakes his head.

“No, Maui.  You’re falling asleep.”

Moana yawns. “Am I?” she asks, rubbing her eyes.

“Go take a nap. I’ll take over for you”

“Are you sure? You don’t even know where-” She starts, but then she pauses to yawn. “-Motonui is”

“You know what?” Maui says as he lifts Moana up in the air. “If you wake up in fifteen minutes and can tell just by _one_ look around that we’re going in the wrong direction, feel free to take over for me” He says, and sets her down in the center of the boat.  “But _you_ were the one who just spun the boat in the opposite direction without noticing, so I don’t see how you could.”

Moana groans in response. “Fine. But only for fifteen minutes” She says sleepily, and lies down.  She appears to go out cold as soon as she closes her eyes, and Maui rolls his eyes. _Yeah, sure. Fifteen minutes._

\--

Maui is almost relieved when Moana wakes up when she does. It had gotten uncomfortably quiet overnight, and even if he had Mini Maui to talk to, he had grown accustomed to hearing the sound of someone else’s voice over the past few days and was beginning to miss the sound of it. He still hadn’t woken her up when she asked him to, though. She looked as if she was having the best night’s sleep she’d had in days, and he felt that she would’ve been more upset with him disturbing her sleep than she would be if she found out he let her sleep in.

Moana sits up and stretches. She rubs her eyes, and a confused expression appears on her face when she looks around and notices it’s significantly lighter out than it was when she fell asleep.

“Did I oversleep?” She asks Maui, who approaches her from the controls with the oar in his hand.

“When you only plan to sleep for fifteen minutes, I think it’s impossible not to.” He offers her the oar. “You’re welcome for letting you get some sleep for once, by the way”

Moana opens her mouth to protest, but closes it once she realizes he was right. She hadn’t realized how tired she actually was until she had lied down, and there was no way she could argue he could have tricked her and turned the boat around. He seems just as eager to get to Motonui as she is, so turning the boat would prevent him from getting where he wants to be just as much as she does.

“Anything interesting happen when I was asleep?”  She asks as she begins to climb the sail.

“I saw a shooting star” Maui says sarcastically as he looks up at her. “But other than that, not really”

“It’s actually funny you say that, because I’ve never actually seen a shooting star” She says from the top of the sail.

“Really?” Maui asks, almost laughing. “I find that hard to believe. Weren’t you always staring out at the stars when you were younger in hopes that you could _one day explore all there is outside your island?”_ He asks, teasing her.

“The ocean” She corrects him. “But I’m serious! I’ve never seen one and quite frankly I’m jealous you got to see one just because I fell asleep”

“Well, I’ll be sure to point one out to you if I see any in the next few days if I see another one” he remarks, and he hears Moana inhale sharply through her nose before jumping off from the top of the sail.

“That’s not gonna happen"

Maui sighs. “I’m not gonna let you stay up every night for the next week just so you can look for some stupid-” He starts, but then she waves her hands around to get him to stop talking.

“No, I mean it’s not going to happen because we’re not going to be out at sea a few days from now. Look.” She says, and points out in the distance. Maui squints in the direction where she’s pointing, and sure enough there’s a tall, rocky mountain-like figure approaching in the distance. Lalotai.

“You know what else this means?” she asks, smirking at him. “It means that I can still pop over to your little island and drop you off”

“Yeah?” Maui asks, taking a step towards her. “And I can still do this” He says, picking her up by the waist and dropping her into the water.

“You know, all you’re doing is giving me reason to do it”

“Even if you did, I know every inch of that island. I could find a way back on this boat before you even have a chance to pull away.”

“I find that hard to believe” She says, mocking him.

“That island isn’t exactly the biggest, and when you’ve lived there as long as I have you tend to know every square inch of the place”

“Oh?” Moana says, raising an eyebrow at him. “Is that a challenge?”

“No, it most certainly is not” he says, pouting, and she smiles.

“Really? Because it’s starting to sound a lot like it is” Moana smiles, and sits back down at the controls. She begins to steer the boat slightly westward, and when a sliver of fear flashes in Maui’s eyes for a short moment, she begins to laugh.

“Moana, no” He says, and walks over to her. He picks her up and both of his hands, which only make her laugh harder.

“I’m _kidding_!” She says as he plops her down on the ground before sitting at the controls to fix the boat’s course. “ _So serious!_ ” She says, mocking him, almost unable to get her sentence out without laughing.

“Well, when _someone_ actually changes the direction we’re moving in, it’s hard to tell” He says, taking a quick glance out at the horizon to make sure the boat was back on its original course. Once he’s sure it is, he joins Moana and sits down next to her.

“It’s not like I was ACTUALLY going to do it. I was just going to change the boat’s direction a little bit to make it seem like I was”

“Mmhm. And then you were going to get us lost”

“What happened to ‘master wayfinder’?”  Moana asks, crossing her arms at him.

“Nothing. All I’m saying is, knowing you, you’d probably take it too far and actually try to sail all the way to my island before dropping the whole ‘ _I’m kidding!’_ thing. And, correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t you fall asleep when we were sailing away from it the first time?”

“Well,” Moana pauses as she unfolds her arms and rests them behind her. “Yeah, I did, but that doesn’t mean-” she starts, but then Maui cuts her off.

“Kid, How do you expect to ‘know where you are by knowing where you’ve been’ if you were asleep? There’s no way you could’ve seen anything that was going on if you were out cold”

Moana goes silent for a moment, and Maui shakes his head in laughter before she returns to her original position and crosses her arms at him.

“Well, what about you?” She asks. “You were stuck on that island for 1,000 years. How would you be able to recognize that we’re lost if you haven’t been out on the water since then?”

“Pfft, is that even a question? All I ever did when I was stuck there was stare out at the water. I memorized every angle of the water and every little island in the distance from that dump. I’d be able to recognize when we’re coming up on it even if I were lying back and staring up at the sky.”

Moana frowns. She hates how casually he talked about how much he hated his time on the island. She couldn’t blame him. She was only there for maybe ten, twenty minutes and she couldn’t stand how uncomfortably small or desolate it was, especially in comparison to her own home island. But each time Maui brought it up, he made it sound worse and worse than Moana had originally thought and he said it in the same casual tone she would use when she would talk about how her day went when someone asked her.

The worst part was that she knew he wasn’t exaggerating. The first thing she had seen when she crash-landed on his island was a large boulder with a tally mark carved into every inch. She couldn’t tell if each mark was supposed to represent each day he was there, or each year, and quite frankly Moana didn’t know which was worse.

“You…really hated that island, didn’t you?” She suddenly asks to break the uncomfortable silence, and Maui frowns.

“Uh, yeah” He says. “You knew that already.”

“No,” she says, shaking her head. “I mean, you _really_ hated it. Each time I try to ask you a simple question about it, you go into this long story about ‘the time I hurt myself doing _this_ on the island’ or ‘the time Mini Maui didn’t speak to me for two days after doing _that_ on the island’. It’s almost as if you’re… _afraid_ of something”

“What?” Maui asks, and he laughs uncomfortably. “That’s…ridiculous. I’m telling you those stories to give you something to do.”

Moana frowns. “Then why haven’t you told me the full story about the giant eel you had to kill? Or the story of an island you pulled from the sea?”

“I-” He starts, but then pauses. He twists his face in a way that lets Moana know he’s digging through his thoughts for an excuse. “I just, assumed you had heard them all a hundred times before. Yeah.”

“Maui…are you…afraid of your own island?” She asks, only half-expecting an answer from him.

“Not of the island itself” Maui spits out without meaning to, and the shocked expression on his face shows even he was surprised by his own choice of words.

“Then what are you afraid of?” Moana asks, and another moment of silence makes her believe he’s not going to respond. She stands.

“Getting left behind” He says eventually, and she spins around.

“What?”

“I was telling you those stories because part of me was afraid you _were_ going to sail there and leave me behind.”

“Maui,” She says, returning to sit down next to him. “You know I was just joking and that I would never even consider actually doing it, right?”

“Yeah, but it doesn’t mean part of me won’t believe you. I’ve been like this my whole life. Once your parents don’t want you around, it’s hard to believe that anyone would”

Moana stays silent for a moment in complete shock at what he was saying. After a few minutes pass, she shakes her head in disbelief before standing and returning to the controls.

“What are you doing?” Maui asks as he glances up at Moana, who now has the rope in her hand.

“Proving you how wrong you are. I’m speeding the boat up so we’ll get to Motunui faster. They’ll want you around.”

“You don’t know that”

“Yes I do. You wanna know why? The people of Motunui, they’re more than just a village. They’re a _family._ Everyone knows each other by name. Everyone knows which parents each kid has. Everyone works together. Everyone laughs together. We celebrate life on Motunui.” Moana says as she increases the boat’s speed until she’s satisfied with it. “ _Everyone’s_ life. They have never turned anyone away before and I don’t see why they start with a _demigod_ , of all things”

She climbs the sail to check their location, and as she does that, Maui thinks about what she said carefully. _They’re a family._ He had never felt like he was part of a family before, and he secretly longed to know what the feeling was like. He was also very interested in village life. He had viewed it from afar in the past, but he never had the chance to experience it firsthand. He remembered viewing people helping one another, and working together, so he knew what Moana was saying had some truth in it, even with the daughter-of-the-chief bias he knew had been part of her speech.

Maui sighs, and allows himself to relax a bit. “Good speech,” he says when Moana climbs down from the sail “Again”

Moana smiles when she realizes her speech must have gotten through to him. You’re welcome” she says, smiling, and he rolls his eyes.

“Are you ever going to let that go?” He asks, and she snorts.

“I actually hadn't meant it like that, but since you brought it up, no. Never” she says, and twirls in a circle before bowing to him as overdramatically as she possibly can. “You’re welcome!” she repeats, this time in a singsong voice, and Maui crosses his arms.

“Unbelievable” He says, but there’s a smile on his face. He shakes his head. “How are we doing location wise?” He asks, and Moana stands up straight and pushes her hair out of her face.

“Well, we just passed by Lalotai, as I’m sure you’re aware, so as long as there aren’t any Kakamora boats around, we should arrive either late tonight or early tomorrow morning”

“Nah,” Maui says, rolling his eyes. “I don’t think the Kakamora will bother you again after what you did to their ship last time they saw you. Plus, even if they did, I’ve got this baby back, so it wouldn’t take long to get them to leave” He says, picking up his fish hook and twirling it around in his hand.

“Alright” Moana says, completely unfazed by Maui’s gesture. “Then tonight or tomorrow morning it is” She says, and smiles. “You know what this means, right? It means I get to stay up all night and look for that shooting star you robbed me of seeing the other night”

“No, absolutely not. Do you want to fall asleep as soon as we get to Motunui? I don’t know how good it would look if people gathered at the beach to meet you and found you sleeping at the controls”

“That wouldn’t happen. I can force myself stay away when I want to”

“Oh, you mean like last night? Or the maybe, two or three times you fell asleep on the way to Te Fiti? I don’t think so. You’re getting your sleep tonight one way or another even if it means pulling the boat over somewhere so you can pull into Motunui’s shore in the morning”

Moana opens her mouth, closes it, and then crosses her arms. “I was only kidding” she mumbles, an annoyed pout on her face.

“Were you, though?” Maui asks, and he gets his answer from her when she glares at him. He laughs.

“Alright, alright. If you’re serious about this, I’ll take over wayfinding for the rest of the day, so you can take over at night and look for as many shooting stars as you want.”

“Really?” She asks, beaming, and he raises a hand in the air.

“But _only_ if you take it easy for the rest of the day. No changing your mind, no trying to tell me I’m going too slow, nothing. Take a nap, or something. I don’t know. If you can just stay calm until then and save up your energy, I won’t have to worry about you falling asleep in the middle of the night and knocking you or myself overboard like you almost did last night.”

“Yes!” she shouts, but then clears her throat and speaks quietly, trying to hide how excited she felt. “Thank you” she says, and turns her back to him as she walks over to the sail and leans on it, looking out at the water on the horizon.  Maui’s almost impressed by how quickly she was able to bury her energy down like that. Almost.

For the remainder of the day, Maui sits at the controls, carefully making sure everything stays in place as he watches Moana. She’s staying pretty true to her word, lying on her stomach by the edge of the boat while looking down at the water. She’s mumbling to the water, and she occasionally laughs at the ocean’s response. He didn’t think she had it in her. He had originally been bluffing, just to see how quiet her ‘quietest’ actually was, and now he found himself surprised at how quiet she actually _could_ be. He supposed it had to do with her royal status. Or the whole ‘only person in the village with a love of the ocean’ sort of thing. She had told him earlier about her father’s disapproval for her love of the ocean and how she had to bury that passion within her for years. Maui thought she had been exaggerating. She clearly hadn’t been.

When the sun finally begins to set, Maui takes a quick look around and begins to realize the area is giving him a sense of familiarity. They must be approaching his island at a faster rate than he expected, and that Moana had gotten it exactly right when she guessed they’d be arriving early the next morning. Moana was still being quiet, now sitting at the edge of the canoe and kicking her feet in the water. Almost uncomfortable by this, Maui stands and walks over to her, oar in hand.

“A deal’s a deal, princess” he says, and she whips her head to look at him when she hears him coming. Her face lights up.

“Yes!” She says, taking the oar before leaning it against the sail before she starts to climb. “I was starting to get so BORED just sitting here doing nothing”

“I can tell!” Maui yells to her, laughing. _This_ was the Moana he was used to seeing. He liked this Moana better than quiet, ignoring-you-all-day Moana. “By the way,” He calls to her. “I think we might be coming up on my old island soon”

“Yeah?” She asks, jumping down from the perch at the top of the sail. “Then that makes my job easier”

“And how’s that?” Maui asks, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

“All I have to do now is keep the boat on course and avoid the island that clearly isn’t mine.” She says, and sits down in front of the controls again. “If anything, you’ve covered all the hard work for me and therefore have given me _another_ excuse to stay up until we arrive back home”

Maui crosses his arms. “I’m not waking you up if you fall asleep”

“Why would I?” Moana says, and leans back on her arms. “I’ve just spent the day saving up all my energy _like you told me to._ ”

Maui opens his mouth to respond, but then closes it when he realizes she’s right. He walks away from her and sits down. She’d fall asleep eventually. He knew she would, and when she did, he could laugh and prove how wrong she was. So he sits back, looking out at the water, and waits for the inevitable.

Except it never happens. Maui watches the sun disappear over the horizon, and then the moon rises, and still Moana stays awake. In fact, she seems _more_ awake than she had been before. Each time the boat so as much turns a smidgen off course from going over a small wave, she frantically adjusts it to make sure it stays on course. He supposes it was his fault, since he _had_ told her to save up her energy, but he didn’t think it would actually work. He thought sitting around all day _tired_ people, not make them twice as energetic.

Of course that didn’t apply to Moana. Nothing he knew about mortals applied to Moana. He shakes his head and laughs quietly as he watches her.

As the night goes on, Maui realizes that Moana isn’t going to fall asleep, so he turns his attention away from her and looks back out at the water, switching to a more comfortable position.

He must have spaced out eventually, because when Moana taps on his shoulder excitedly, he jumps. She backs away when he does, but when he turns around and expects her to see an upset or confused expression on her face, all he’s met with is a huge, beaming smile.

“Look” she whispers excitedly, and gestures with her hands for him to come closer to her. Amused, Maui stands and walks to stand next to her, and she points to something in the sky when he does. “Right there, you see that?” She says, and he follows her gaze until he finds himself looking at a large constellation of his own fish hook. A small group of stars make up the handle, and a large group of stars dip down to create the hook shape. He smiles, and when she sees this, her smile on increases in size. If that’s even possible. “That’s not all. Look” She says, and, pointing at the constellation, she brings her arm down until she’s pointing at a small island almost too dark to make out. “You see that sort of dark blob right below the constellation?”

“Yeah?” He asks, squinting and placing a hand over his eyes to try and make it easier to see.

“That’s your old island.” She says, smiling, and then tugs on his arm excitedly to immediately pull attention away from it. “It means we’re almost home! Maui, I can see that constellation standing on the beach of Motunui. We’re so close!” She says, and claps her hands together as she returns to her position at the controls. “There is _no_ way I’m falling asleep now, no matter how tired I am” she says, and he laughs.

Allowing her to focus on bringing them the rest of the way home, Maui steps back and looks up at the sky to admire the, no- _his_ constellation. Taking his hook in his hands, he holds it up next to the constellation for comparison. It’s a perfect replica. He smiles, and places his hook down next to him so he can admire the constellation more. Following the shape with his eyes, he eventually finds himself following the tip down to his old island. He shakes his head.

He knew Moana had been looking for him when she found him, but he also knew her boat crashed onto the shore after a bad storm and had assumed she had found him by chance. But it was so much more than that. The entire time he was stranded, he had assumed the gods had given up on him. He hadn’t blamed them, either. But he was wrong. The gods had given him his own constellation, even after everything he did, and hung it over his island in hopes that someone like Moana would find him. He sits down, leaning against the sail, and watches as the constellation moves out of his sight. He glances over at Moana, who seems to have this determined smile plastered to her face.

He smiles. Then, contradicting himself from earlier, he slides into a more comfortable position and falls asleep.

He wakes up just as the sun is beginning to rise. When he sits up, he immediately feels eyes burning into the back of his skull, so he turns to see Moana smirking at him from her position at the controls. “Enjoy your beauty rest?” She asks, mocking him, and stands at the same time he does. “I’m glad you woke up when you did, because I was just about to push you into the water to wake you up. Look” She says, gesturing with her head at something in the distance. Maui looks, and finds himself looking at two lush, green, looming mountains approaching them slowly.

“Home” Moana says happily, and she steps to the bow to watch the rest of the island appear slowly. Maui does too. A bunch of smaller, greener hills pop out from the bottom of the large mountain, and there are tall coconut trees sprouting everywhere. Moana was right. It _is_ beautiful. As they get closer, Maui starts to notice the water below them getting significantly lighter, but before he can comment on it, Moana once again begins to bounce excitedly. If he didn’t know better he could swear he could hear her squealing softly, too. She rushes back to the controls and significantly slows the boat’s speed just as the boat goes over a large jump that nearly knocks her off of her feet.

Maui wishes he was exaggerating when he says he can already hear excited shouts coming from various villagers on the beach. The smile on Moana’s face brightens, and she looks as if she’s struggling to refrain from jumping into the ocean and swimming her way to shore. As the boat approaches, a small group of people Maui can only assume are the island fishermen begin to crowd at the shore as the boat slowly approaches the shore. Silently swinging his fish hook in the air, Maui dives into the water, transforming into a shark just as he breaks the water’s surface. Moana, although rolling her eyes, nods knowingly. She then sticks an arm at the air, waving to the group, and every single one of them wave back. She laughs quietly, getting overwhelmed with emotion. Shooting a quick glance down at Maui in the water, she adjusts the boat’s speed one last time, speeding the boat up to meet the group. Some of the men come out to meet her and help drag her boat the rest of the way on shore.

As soon as her feet touch the sand, she hears small footsteps running to meet her, and she glances down to see Pua running into her arms. “Pua!” She cries happily, twirling him in a small circle. With Pua still in her arms, she approaches the center of the village, the crowd around her growing larger and larger. Another small flash of light at the corner of her eyes catches her attention, and she turns to see Maui leaning against her canoe, back in his human form. He smiles warmly at her when he catches her eye, and she smiles back, once again shooting him a small nod. Turning her attention back to where she’s heading, she immediately catches sight of her parents among the group of people who had stayed behind to wait for her to come to them. Placing Pua on the ground gently, she breaks into a sprint and runs right into their open arms.

“I missed you so much!” She says, finally letting the tears she had been holding back stream down her face.

“We missed you too. We prayed for your safety every night” Tui says, running a hand through his daughter’s hair.

“We’re so proud of you” Sina says in a wavery voice that shows that she’s crying too.

“Did you do it alone?” Tui says, taking a look around at the large crowd that gathered around them. “I don’t see anyone with you” He says, and she smiles.

“Not even close. Follow me” She says, and begins to sprint back down towards the beach. The crowd follows behind at a slower pace. She sprints back down to the beach, and, smiling at Maui, she comes to a stop right in front of him.

“Everyone,” she says once everyone catches up to her. “This,” she says, and steps out of the way so everyone can look at him. “Is Maui. Shapeshifter, Demigod of the Wind and Sea,” she says, pausing to glance over at him. “And my best friend. Throughout our journey together, he kept me safe, taught me to sail, and eventually helped me to restore the heart of Te Fiti. I have offered him a place here in Motunui, and he has happily accepted my offer.” She says with a lot of authority in her voice. “I hope you all accept him as well”

As mature as she’s acting, Moana feels terrified. Nobody says anything at first, and eventually large amounts of hushed whispers begin rising from the crowd. Moana stands her ground next to him, and she and Maui exchange a worried glance.

Moana’s mother is the first to step from the crowd. At first she approaches him slowly, but then her face crumbles and she throws around him in a hug. Maui is so shocked he almost stumbles backwards and falls over.

“Thank you” she whispers. “For keeping my daughter safe”

At first she’s the only one, but one by one, more and more people join in, throwing their arms around him in a hug until everyone in the entire village is locked into one big group hug. Moana smiles warmly as she squeezes her way through the crowd and throws her arms around him as well.

Maui’s in pure shock. He had never, _ever_ expected a reaction like this. He was prepared for just about any reaction in the world, because he had received every reaction in the world, but he’s never had a reaction like _this._ He’s never been shown this much attention in his entire life. He’s never been shown this much _affection_ in his entire life. He sends a quick glance down at Moana, who gives him a knowing smile, and realization hits him like a truck.

His initial expression of shock softens into a warm smile, and with a free hand, he runs a hand through his hair.

…and suddenly he becomes aware that he’s crying. A warm tear begins to fall down his cheek, and he drops to one of his knees and holds the large crowd close to him.

“No, no” He says, his voice cracking with emotion. “Thank _you”_

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading this! I had actually started it a few days after I saw the movie, scrapped it, and then came back to it this morning after I was res-struck with inspiration! This too was inspired by a long stream of skype conversations, but this one is more deeply involved in our headcanons. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!


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